Repent, Turn and Live

God graciously gives every person the opportunity to experience a relationship with God founded upon His unfailing love.  He has also allowed every human being to make a personal choice if they will trust and love Him or not.  Our Maker allows us to freely choose if we will accept Him as Master.  He is not cruel or brutal for extending this once in a lifetime opportunity to us every day of our lives on earth at the expense of the life of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

From a young age, people generally understand the rights of ownership.  As a child I could comprehend there was a difference between my toys and those owned by my brother and sister.  There were also responsibilities that came with ownership, whether it be a pet or a vehicle.  As the owner of a car it was my decision if I chose to paint or modify the car, buy new tyres or sell it.  I could wash and wax my car every week or I could avoid cleaning it altogether.  It was my right as a car owner to drive and maintain it as I pleased.  Regardless what other people thought about me or the state of my car, it was mine and I had the final say.

Because God is the Creator of the world and all that is in it, He has every right to do whatever He wants with anything and everyone because everything is all His.  In our Bible study at Calvary Chapel Sydney last night, we spoke about the responsibilities in the Mosaic Law of the owner of a bull that was known to "push with the horn," to be aggressive and dangerous.  Exodus 21:28-29 reads, "If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, then the ox shall surely be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be acquitted. ²⁹ But if the ox tended to thrust with its horn in times past, and it has been made known to his owner, and he has not kept it confined, so that it has killed a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death."  A dangerous bull needed to be kept in a paddock to prevent him from hurting anyone.  If the owner of a bull was deemed negligent to adequately restrain his ox whose rampage resulted in someone's death, both the ox and owner would be executed.

The owner of a rogue ox faced a tough predicament.  A bull was a very valuable animal that could accomplish great labour through its strength, but if the bull refused to be trained to wear a yoke and lashed out at people, it was a liability that put his own life and others at risk.  If the ox had ability to reason like a human being, it would need to make a decision that its life and future depended on:  would it rather submit to the yoke and the commands of its master and live, or would continuance in stubbornness and aggression make it most useful to the master by slaughter for meat, leather, tallow and glue?  The loss of the bull's life would be a loss felt by the master, but no one could blame him for dispatching a dangerous animal to mitigate the risk of personal injury or death and to benefit as much as possible on his investment of time, feed and money.

God issued a warning to the proud in Psalm 75:4-5, "I said to the boastful, 'Do not deal boastfully,' and to the wicked, 'Do not lift up the horn. ⁵ Do not lift up your horn on high; do not speak with a stiff neck.'"  God who created mankind has given us the choice if we will trust and submit to Him in faith or we will continue in our pride and self-reliance.  Jesus came to earth as a human being to offer forgiveness and eternal life for sinners headed to ruin in hell forever.  God will be glorified by those who repent and trust in Him or by the destruction of the proud who lash out at Him with hatred.  Either way, God's power and strength will be on full display.  God's heart of love toward sinners is shown in His appeal to reason in Ezekiel 18:30-32:  "Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways," says the Lord GOD. "Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. ³¹ Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? ³² For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies," says the Lord GOD. "Therefore turn and live!"